the ups & downs of pet ownership

My life, on a daily basis, consists of lots of dealing with our pets. When you spend a majority of your time at home, they tend to want to hang out with you. All the time. And I'm pretty cool with that. I love animals, and I really love our two. Their personalities are so funny.

Take Ben, our beloved furry angel. He is 15 years old. He's always been more like a dog in that he will greet you at the door, and comes when you call him. He follows me around and has specific routines at certain times of the day. He has adjusted well to being an only kitty since Savannah passed away. One of the adjustments was a change in diet. He was eating her high protein food for diabetics (we tried valiantly to seperate them at mealtime. That was a full time job) and now he is on a senior weight management blend. NOT his favorite, but he eats it.

Then a funny thing happened. He walked into our bedroom and jumped up on the bed. He hasn't been able to do this for awhile. Our bed is high and he is fat.

(I am not the pot calling the kettle black, here. He is fat. I am fat. I call us 'fluffy')

So for the last week I have been startled every time I walk into our room and he is spread out on that bed. And he knows how to spread. I have never seen a cat take up so much real estate.

For years we have enjoyed a pet free zone in the bed.Now I'm picking off tufts of fur and 'scolding' him for being up there. Like he really cares. He was even lucky enough to spend the entire night in there with Bart last week, when I was all mucus-y and sleeping propped up on the couch. He must have thought he was in heaven.

Now Buddy, on the other hand, has the opposite problem. He goes downstairs the second I leave the house, and he's can't get back up. If I go out for more than a minute or two, he scurries to the basement and his old lumpy bed (right behind the hamper full of garbage that I've been meaning to take out for the last month. Hmm.) We have tried blocking off the basement, but the litterbox is down there so we can'r totally do it. It drives me nuts that he goes down there. Today when I came home from the grocery store I had to carry him up and he's no bag of feathers!It's just so pathetic.
You should see him sitting here right now, whining like he doesn't live the best dog life ever!